All posts by emptyensemble

In a brash move to take advantage of a CD Baby discount, I’m releasing 「無題へ生23六月五日」 as a single. CD Baby took 40 percent off a single track release, and I started one for Eponymous 4 a while back but never finished it. So I chose to change it to an Empty Ensemble release instead.

The track arrives on Aug. 25 and should be available at all the major outlets — iTunes, Spotify, Amazon MP3 Store, Google Play.

At some point, I’ll continuing working on 「無題」 — and maybe even give it a title — but for now, I’m content to get just one piece of music out on the paid networks.

Eponymous 4 pretty much uploads music as it’s finished, and there’s no reason Empty Ensemble shouldn’t do the same, regardless if the parts don’t complete a whole.

With that in mind, the Releases section of the site now has the various Empty Ensemble projects online, including the 宿題シリーズ (“Shukudai Series”) of recordings — sample library renditions of classical pieces. There are also some original works.

Eponymous 4 first formed in 1999, but it didn’t really get traction till 2005. And when it did, the moniker became the catch-all for every musical thing I did. Rock songs ripping off Japanese punk bands? Sure. Pop songs ripping off Duran Duran? Absolutely. A string quartet imitating Dmitri Shostakovich and Samuel Barber? Fair game.

It’s many years later, and while the popular music work of Eponymous 4 inches closer to completion, some of the more classically-minded stuff just sat in limbo. I labeled them as Eponymous 4 projects, but were they really? I’ve been working as Eponymous 4 for a while now, and honestly, I’m kind of tired of it. Or rather, Eponymous 4 has hit a wall.

The urge to create a new identity has been creeping into my consciousness bit by bit, and now, it’s finally happened.

Welcome Empty Ensemble.

The name Empty Orchestra was already taken by a band in Michigan, who were also inspired by the term “karaoke”, which itself is an abbreviation of “kara ohkesutora” (空オーケストラ). But I’m not an orchestra, and while I won’t rule out that possibility in the future, I wouldn’t mind being an ensemble — an Empty Ensemble. It’s also a literal description — there are no members in this ensemble. Just a sample library.